Vacation Eats (Colorado Green Chili)
Vacation Eats: Colorado Green Chili
Spring, summer, autumn, and winter, there is nothing like a bowl of Colorado Green Chili. The first time I tried green chili was in Aurora, Colorado. My then-boyfriend, now husband, took me to his favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. Mexican food is not my thing. I came from a state where Mexican food meant Taco Bell. I never liked Taco Bell, and since that was my view of Mexican food, I was not the least bit happy. He just told me to trust him. Do you trust a man you have just met, in a state you have never been to? Maybe not. But I did.
We got to the restaurant, and I was already wishing it was over. I would rather stab my eyes with hot pokers than eat anything that didn’t sound appealing. Rice, refried beans, and tortillas aren’t palate teasers for me. We sat down, and the server handed us menus. I eagerly perused the offerings and secretly rolled my eyes. Eagerly was optimistic of me to say. Hah!
Blah blah blah. The same things that are on every Mexican restaurant menu were on this one. My date suggested a couple of things, and I went with it. I didn't know what I would enjoy. Expecting no enjoyment, I had pizza on standby for later.
My boyfriend ordered a couple of items for himself and a dish for me. While we waited, the server set a basket of chips and two bowls of salsa on the table. Though I was not a fan of either, I ate a couple of chips. The chips were just chips. No surprise there. The salsa was pleasant and not too spicy. Flavorful.
They brought an appetizer next. It was an assortment of tiny samples of their most popular dishes. Mini tacos, mini chimichangas, and mini flautas surrounded a bowl of some kind of stew. THE stew. This was the moment that changed my view of Mexican food. In the small bowl was a dish called green chili. The only chili I had known until then was made of beef and beans. This was not. I had pork chunks in a light-colored, green-tinged stew. Tiny pieces of diced tomatoes and green peppers also danced around the bowl.
The stew was thick and creamy, with a nice kick. It was spicy. Taste-wise, it was a revelation. I had never had a green chili up to that point. It tasted like a green pepper, but with far more depth and character than a bell pepper. The spice was intense but dissipated quickly. What it left behind was a desire for more. The sting from the heat of the chilis just left you wanting more. I enjoyed it.
Dinner came after that. My date had ordered enchiladas for me. They had a delicate flavor, but eh, they are enchiladas. Nothing to see here. Enchiladas all taste the same or similar. I had asked to omit the refried beans, but I received a larger portion of rice instead.
Refried beans. Just the name alone makes me not want to eat them. Who would do such a thing? Who actually refries beans, or who would ever fry a bean in the first place? Well, apparently the Mexican people do. For me, that was a no-go. It looked like it came from a can with the name Purina on it. I still won’t eat them.
I had rice instead. I like rice and have had it in many countries and in many dishes. It’s simple and nondescript. Non-threatening. It was the best-tasting rice I had ever had. I still go back to that restaurant each year and order the rice. The green chili and that rice are the only Mexican food I actually enjoy and don’t complain about eating.
Green chili is a paradox. It is a simple fruit with a not-so-simple flavor profile. There are 1600 to 4000 varieties worldwide. Each has a distinct flavor and heat. A fruit with spice.
Green chili is hard to find, at least the kind you get in Colorado. We have several places in Kansas that offer it. But here it is a different animal. It is a tomatillo salsa at best and is often served cold as a dip for chips. When hot, it is served over burritos or enchiladas like a sauce. It is not the same.
For over twenty-five years, I have tried green chili all over the country. I gave up ordering it some time ago after realizing I could not find the same stew that Colorado is famous for anywhere else.
If Colorado were not one of the most beautiful states in the nation, or if it did not have so much to offer every demographic, I would still tell everyone to go for the food, most notably the green chili. This is an ethereal experience. It is an explosive celebration for your taste buds. Green chili alone is worth the drive, flight, or layover from wherever you come from. In Colorado, you even get it with a view.
The entire state has so many restaurants serving this dish. One version is just as good as another. Each chef has their own tweaks and nuances to make it their own.
On our recent trip, we were in the mountains in the town of Granby. We went to eat at the one restaurant with the best reviews. It mentioned that it used locally sourced ingredients and its own cattle for the beef dishes. This place had green chili on the menu. The restaurant used hogs from a local farm in the chili. It was resplendent.
More of a soup than a stew, it was amazing. Every bite was a pleasure. We had ordered a small bowl of it and regretted it. We could have eaten that soup as the meal, and I would not have complained.
Before leaving Colorado, we visited the Mexican restaurant in Aurora, where they introduced me to green chili stew. We go there every time we are in the state. Our son now lives in Colorado and enjoys this meal as often as he likes. We took him with us this time as well.
I found it amusing that when they seated us, they put us in the same booth where my husband and I had sat 25 years earlier, the day I discovered that Mexican food wasn’t so bad. We had come full circle and passed that torch to our son. This place has been around for over 25 years. It has never changed, and neither has the food. The owners are the same. The atmosphere is the same, and every bite is a memory.
If you go to Colorado, make sure you try the green chili wherever you can get it. You can thank me later.
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